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Globally, there are 12.5 billion hours of work that the world never pays for because it barely even sees it.  

Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.

Major cuts to aid budgets have already left people fleeing wars in Sudan and beyond without the assistance and protection they need, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.

Almost four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, criminal groups in Ukraine are adapting their business models amid displacement, rising trafficking risks and an increased demand for synthetic drugs, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report published on Friday. 

Reporting “constructive” discussions on Cyprus, UN Secretary‑General António Guterres announced on Thursday that four previously agreed trust‑building measures have been realized, technical work continues on two others, and the parties have agreed to expand cooperation on youth, environment, culture and civil society.

The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) reported mass displacement in Swedia, Syria after five days of sectarian violence between Bedouin tribal fighters, government forces and Druze militias. 

A surge in sectarian violence in southern Syria and Israeli airstrikes reaching central Damascus have pushed the war‑scarred country into a volatile juncture, a senior UN official said on Thursday, warning that renewed violence could shatter prospects for peace and fuel wider regional instability.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned the Israeli strike on Thursday that hit the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip. 

Pakistan’s monsoon emergency deepened on Thursday as authorities declared disaster zones across parts of eastern Punjab state after lethal cloudbursts and flash floods killed dozens in a single day.

A group of Indigenous youth from the United States, some as young as seven, visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York this week for the first time. 

The Security Council meets this afternoon for an emergency session on Syria after a wave of Israeli airstrikes reportedly hit military sites and key locations in Damascus, killing and injuring civilians and soldiers. The meeting was requested by Syria and backed by Council members Algeria and Somalia. A senior UN political affairs official is expected to brief ambassadors, with regional countries also participating. Stay with us for live updates, in coordination with UN Meetings Coverage. UN News App users can follow here.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk has deplored deadly attacks in Sudan’s Kordofan region this week, his office said in a statement on Thursday.